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Which Class D Amplifier? PS Audio, Ghent, Nord, Merrill or other???

I’m looking for a new amp & want Class D.

I’ve seen various brands mentioned, such as PS Audio, Ghent, Nord, Merrel to name a few, but I’ve not heard any of them.

Which company is producing the best sounding Class D?
Which models should I be looking to demo?


Thanks



singintheblues
celander's avatar
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celander
1,036 posts
 
Noble100, both GaN Systems and EPC hold patents on the GaN transistor tech. 
jonasandezekiel
88 posts
 
I fell in love with class d when I bought (go easy on me) the Pioneer elite
sc-09tx uber-receiver, some years ago. The bass and mids were absolutely intoxicating and to die for, while the highs were grating and painful. All coming from a pitch black background, no noise. It was definitely a good news, bad news sort of thing, but when it was good, it was REALLY good.

It became like a drug addiction, I desperately searched for something that reproduced that fantastic mid range and powerful bass and that dead silence, without the harsh treble it was known for.

I’m now using wyred 4 sound mono blocks, and they’re just okay. They don’t add anything untoward, but don’t have much in the way of punch or bass kick I like to hear. They're just not exciting, like the Pioneer.
I’m now looking for a replacement for my amps....much like the OP.

georgehifi's avatar
georgehifi
4,966 posts
 
I’m now using wyred 4 sound mono blocks, and they’re just okay. They don’t add anything untoward, but don’t have much in the way of punch or bass kick I like to hear.
These are Ice powered Class-D’s also, you stated below they were bright also, what speakers do you own, maybe that new GaN Technics SU-G30 could be good with them?
Anyone with opinions on Wyred4sound’s monoblocks? I recently bought three, and they sound bright without much bass. Anyone?

Here is the Technics SU-G30 review.

The musical reproduction offered by the Technics SU-G30 was among the best sound of any amplifier I have ever reviewed. Technics has a short preamble in the manual that hypes the great sound of this amplifier and I agree with their marketing-driven assessment. It is ironic that the better digital gets, the closer it sounds to analog. Tubelike even. And at some point, digital can have the best qualities of digital and analog at the same time. This is how I view the audio prowess of the Technics SU-G30 – it is like analog, super clean analog at that.

My generalized listening impressions involved excellent purity of tone, a huge soundstage, amazing detail retrieval along with surprising excellence on streaming services.



 Cheers George
worldwidewholesales
87 posts
 
Hi Mapman,
Yes we are currently testing 2 Class D amps with the GaN technology. We are being very careful with our testing and all amplifiers are going into 5 different systems, so right now we are just keeping our findings to our selves until the testing is done. I will say it was easy to eliminate the bad sounding Class D amplifiers very quickly. None of the amplifiers with GaN technology have been eliminated.
Prices vary.

Cheers,
guidocorona
4,114 posts
 

Hello jonasandezekiel, I am not surprised that you are not blown away by Wyred4Sound ICEpowered amps..... I have not heard yet Wyred4Sound amps that I have liked.... To be honest, I have not heard them for a few years, but what I have heard at RMAF until a few years ago sounded rather hard in the treble.


If you can tell us your budget and power requirements, several of us can make some concrete suggestions based on models that we have experienced, and/or brands that we have learned to appreciate.


Regards, Guido

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